Kogo misses Olympic team for Kenya

 　　NAIROBI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo will not be part of the Kenya team to the London Games in July.

　　This follows failure by the 10,000m bronze medallist to secure "A" Standard qualifying mark of 27:45.00 which ultimately locked him out of the Kenya mini-trials team that was selected Tuesday in Nairobi by Athletics¹ Kenya.

　　Though Kogo was sixth timed at 28:31.0, he was not named among the 13 athletes picked by AK for the trials set for Eugene, Oregon in the U.S. on June 2 where the top three will be picked to carry the country flag in the Olympics in London.

　　"He has been dropped because he has not run within the 'A' qualifying standard for the Olympics. So we will have to deal with those who have made that mark," said Kenya's head coach Julius Kirwa said in Nairobi on Tuesday.

　　Former World 10,000m bronze medallist Moses Ndiema Masai, who announced his return from hip² injury with a stamping performance, won the race in 27:10.3 beating Lucas Kimeli Rotich to second in 28:11.0.

　　Eliud Kipchoge was third in 28:12.0 while Mark Kiptoo settled for fourth in 28:17.4 ahead of Josephat Bett 28:27.6 and Paul Tanui 28:34.2.

　　It was the first performance for Masai in Kenya ever since he won the Kenyan trials for the 2009 Berlin World Championships.

　　The 26-year-old alternated the lead with former world 5,000m champion Eliud Kipchoge, Lucas Kimeli Rotich, and Mark Kiptoo, but his lanky³ frame and long strides enabled him to take the challenge easily.

　　He will spearhead Kenya's quest for Olympic ticket in the Eugene, Oregon Preffontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on June 2.

　　"I feel very happy to have won here today. I last won this event in the trials for the Beijing Olympics and it was a good omen⁴ because I went to China and got tied on time with my friend Micah Kogo for the bronze. The organizers opted⁵ to give Kogo the medal," Masai said.

　　"I want to do better and win this elusive⁶ gold that Kenya has not won in 44 years. We have some other athletes who got injured are out of this team that ran here today. So it will be tricky⁷ on what Athletics Kenya will do about them if they shake off their injuries."

　　Kogo, the Olympic bronze medallist, and Daniel Talel were left out of the Kenya team despite having come for the trials and finishing in top 10 position.

　　This, according to Athletics Kenya Secretary General David Okeyo, was because the two have not secured the "A" standard qualifying mark for the Olympics set at 27:45.00.

　　Another athlete to watch will be Eliud Kipchoge, the winner of the 5,000m in Paris in 2003. Then aged⁸ 18, Kipchoge has failed to duplicate the same performance ever since and has only settled for silver twice in the global championships.

　　However, that might be just history should he make the Kenya team in Oregon and going by his pace in the mini-trial race, it is time he moved up the ladder to the 25-lap race.

　　"I was a 5,000m athlete. But now am 27 and believe it is right for me to go to the 10,000m event," said Kipchoge.

　　Several elite⁹ athletes based in Japan failed to come to reduce the event into a pale shadow of the traditionally explosive trials that Kenyans are accustomed to.

　　Of the 31 athletes invited, only 17 showed up and 15 were able to finish the race. This means that the world for AK to select those that are to go for the trials was done pretty easily.

　　"This is the best move that Kenya has done as it tries to redeem¹⁰ its image in the 10,000m race. But failure by Japan-based athletes to show up and injury to a few others, who were in camp in Eldoret, has watered down this competition. But it is the right way to go if we are to win the gold medal," said Kirwa.

　　Team - Moses Masai, Eliud Kipchoge, Lucas Rotich, Mark Kiptoo, Josphat Bett, Paul Tanui, Emmanuel Bett, Geoffrey Kirui, Titus Mbishae, Bedan Karoki, Dennis Masai, Wilson Kiprop, Mike Kipruto Kigen.

1 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

2 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

3 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

4 omen   

n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示

参考例句：

• The superstitious regard it as a bad omen.迷信的人认为那是一种恶兆。
• Could this at last be a good omen for peace?这是否终于可以视作和平的吉兆了？

5 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

6 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

7 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

8 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

9 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

10 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。